The Story of Inabikari Nikko and Maikage Yanagi
by Yonaka no Kageha
Summary: A 6 chapter long story about The Great ninja war and the founding of the shinobi villages from Kumogakure's view.
1. Chapter 1  Prologue

The Alternative Legend of Kumogakure

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The story of Inabikari Nikko and Maikage Yanagi

Prologue – The Final Year of the Great Shinobi War

It was in the year of 689, or 75 years before the start of the Naruto series that this story takes place. About 20 years earlier, the many shinobi clans of the world had begun to fight each other, leading to the end of most of them, and to much suffering for the peasants. This is the conflict that later became known as The First Great Shinobi War or The Ninja World War. In the end there were five big alliances left, all of them fighting to gain control over the continent for their lords.

In the so-called Land of Lightning, there were four big shinobi clans, Kumo, Inabikari, Kageha and Maikage. These clans were hired by the weak government that claimed control over the region that today is called the Kaminari no Kuni. The mission they had been given was to secure the borders of the country, and to defeat any enemy that could be a threat to it. The government was especially afraid of the growing Konoha-clan to the south, whose leader were Konoha Takeo.


	2. Chapter 2 Evening in The Land of Lightni

Chapter 1 – Evening in the Land of Lightning

It was in the middle of the night in the camp of the shinobi from the Kaminari no Kuni. Inabikari Nikko suddenly woke up by hearing the sound of a strong wind. He went up to see if anything actually were happening. When he got out, he met the gate guard, Maikage Tatsuhana.

"Where're going, Nikko?", he asked.

"Nowhere. I just thought I heard something."

"Well, it certainly not any enemies near", Tatsuhana said. He was happy to get someone to talk to after several houres, though Nikko did not feel like talking to him.

"Ok, I'll just go for a little walk", Nikko replied.

"Well, don't stay to long, be back in 30 minutes. If you're not, I may get in problems. You better be back during that time!"

"Sure, no problem"

He walked towards the nearby mountains. It was quite cold, but he knew that he would not get too sleep anymore that night. He walked up a few hundred meters, to the top of the closest hill, watching down on the small camp. Nikko did not really have anything to think about, so he could not quite understand why he couldn't get to sleep. But it was true that he was afraid of an enemy attack. He had been in battles before, but not been very wounded. But could not belive that that was the reason. About 20 minutes after he reached the top, he begun to head back.

The next morning, Nikko was waked up by Tatsuhana. "Come on, you cannot lay there all day!", he shouted. Nikko did not bother resisting, so he got straight up.

"Now, what's the plan for the day?", Nikko asked.

"Well, it's not like I am deciding that, is it?", Tatsuhana answered. Still, he managed to get Nikko out of bed and out to the camp. On their way out to the main building, they met Kumo Akiyama, who was one year older than them, in the training area between their sleeping quarters and the main building.

"Yo! How're you doing, Aki-kun?", Tatsuhana asked.

"Well, why would you like to know? I was actually trying to work how to use this genjutsu in the best way". He did not like when someone spoke to him when he was thinking. Nikko knew this, and though that it was probably best to not sat anything.

"Well, bye then", Tatsuhana said, while they continued towards the main building of the camp.

When they got there, one of the older shinobis there made it clear that they did not have anything that they should work on today. Then they got some food, and Tatsuhana said he were going for some taijutsu training the rest of the day, and he asked Nikko to join him. Nikko, who still were a bit tired, because he didn't sleep too much last night, said that he rather would join him later. Tatsuhana left, and Nikko began walking back towards the sleeping quarters.

On his way down the corrdor, Nikko met Maikage Yanagi, who was sitting there. As he was passing her, she said "Hi" in a low way.

"Eh…Hello", he managed to answer.

"So, how are you doing?", she asked? At that point, he wanted that he had walked another way.

"Ok, I guess", he answered. "How about you?".

"Fine, as always", she answered. "Have you heard about the offencive Iukimura-sama is planning?".

"What, no, I haven't heard", Nikko said.

"I do neither know much, though it's said that Iukimura-sama will try to conquer the Land of Fire, since that will greatly incrase our chances to become the most powerfull shinobi nation", Yanagi said.

"That sounds like something anybody could have made up, but if it's for real, then I hope it will be succesfull."

"Yeah, me too".

Nikko went back, and used most of the day to train on his raiton techniques.

The following day, the choosen leader of the cloud shinobi clans, Kumo Iukimura, began to plan an offencive against the Konoha clan's forces together with the daimyo of the country, Kaminari no Kishi, who had recently arrived to the shinobi's small camp. The Land of Fire was the only nation bordering The Land of Lightning, so Iukimura thought he would have a large chance of defeating them, since The Land of Fire would not be able to match them with full strenght because of their location. Iukimura's plan was simple, just breaking through the border defence, and send a force of elite shinobis towards the headquarters of the Konoha clan's shinobis.

A few days later, Iukimura and Kaminari no Kishi began to choose ninjas to parcipate in the operation, who until then had been kept secret to most shinobis. Nikko hoped to not get choosen, though he did not belive he would, as he still was kind of young. Tatsuhana on the other hand, would love to parcipate on the mission. Neither of them were choosen, instead Iukimura chosed 20 of his most skilled shinobis to go. The mission was planned to start the next morning.

But there were still one thing that Iukimura would like to know…


	3. Chapter 3 The Shinobis of Flames

Chapter 2 – The Shinobis of Flames and Leafs

The following night, Nikko woke up by hearing a high explosion. He quickly got up, and saw that he was alone in the room. He also saw light coming from the windows, even though he thought it was the middle of the night. After concentrating a little, he could also hear screaming from the camp. Nikko ran to the window to see what was going on. Outside, he could see that several buildings were burning, but he couldn't see many peoples. "What the h is going on", he though. Nikko quickly found his shinobi cloths and weapons, and header out of the building. Nikko has short, straight, black hair. He is not very muscular or tall, since he usually was using ninjutsu when he is in a fight. His skin was also kind of pale, since his village is lying in the high and misty mountains that cover the central part of the peninsula, later known as The Land of Lightning. Nikko's eyes were dark brown.

He opened the door and went into the corridor leading out of the building. "This is kind of quiet…", he thought, considering there were enemies in the camp. As he was slowly going forward, he thought he heard a sound behind him. When he turned his head slowly backwards, just to be at the safe side, he though he saw a flash of metal above him. As an instinct, he lowered his body and head, seeing a sword fly just above him. Nikko tried to keep himself calm, and he rolled backwards, to get a better view of the situation. What he saw, was a tall shinobi in dark cloths sitting on the wooden wall in front of him. If he had not known that there was someone there, he would possibly not have noticed him. He was holding a short sword in his hand, a ninjato. "Shit! What should I do now?", Nikko thought. He wanted to get away, but did not dare to stand up. The ninja in front of him was quiet, but suddenly he lifted his sword for an attack. "No other way out of this", Nikko thought, searching through his mind for a way to escape. As he saw the ninja starting his attack, he began to make handseals, though he was worried if he would make it. Suddenly, the ninja jumped towards him, at exceptionally speed.

"Raiton – Raikoosen no jutsu". Nikko thought that would be the jutsu that was best for the situation, and it was also one his most powerful jutsus.

The sword cut deeply through his left hand, though it was obviously aimed for his body. A bolt of lightning from Nikko's hand hit the shinobi in his stomach as he was attacking, sending him backwards, onto the floor. The shinobi was screaming, so he was clearly not dead - yet. Now Nikko noticed that the shinobi was wearing some dark green clothes "…Konoha", he thought. Nikko then hurried out of the building.

When he got outside, he saw that almost a third of the camp was in flames, which lighted up the camp. Nikko could see several enemy shinobis, but he couldn't see any shinobis from the camp (except for those lying silently on the ground), but of course, he could not see clearly because of the light. Nikko was scared, but he tried to keep himself quiet, so that none of the ninjas of the Konoha clan would notice him. As he stood there, he noticed that some of the ninjas were shooting fireballs towards a large cliff, some hundred meters up in the mountainside. Then something was cleared up in his mind. "…If any force of enemies should ever arrive in the camp, you should all withdraw to a place which is better fit for defense…". "Behind that cliff, that must be it", he thought.

Some seconds later, he ran as fast as he could, out of the camp, and into the rocks and bushes in the mountainside. Nikko really hoped that no one would notice him, but he was not that lucky. As he was getting nearer, he noticed heat. He barely managed to jump into a bush when a steam of fire passed above his head, burning the back of his clothes. Though he certainly still had some luck, as the shinobi who had attacked him did not bother checking if he really was dead.

After lying there a few seconds, he used his sneaking ninjutsu to get longer away, and higher up, until he began to move towards the cliff. He had to move slowly, since he absolutely didn't want to be noticed. Nikko also hoped that the Konohanins wouldn't have any guards there. Suddenly, he heard a low voice. "Nikko-kun, over here". He turned around, to find Yanagi hiding behind some rocks there. She was wearing some black shinobi clothes, and had her favourite weapon, a kusarigama, with her. Yanagi had long black hair. Her eyes were blue. She was specializing in close combat, but was not very tall or muscular.

"What are you doing here, Yanagi-san?", Nikko asked her.

"Keep your voice down! I guess I am doing the same as you, fleeing from the enemy", she answered.

"All right, we have to get to that cliff over there, I think that's where the others are hiding"

"Ah, I tried to figure that out…but you're wounded, shouldn't you stay here"

"No, I'm doing ok. Come, let's go"

"Got it", Yanagi answered.

Without any further problems, they got behind the cliff. There they found most of the other ninjas serving the Land of Lighting. "Inabikari-kun? Maikage-chan? Where have you been? Didn't you hear the signal?", one of the older shinobis, Inabikari Hikaru, asked them. They tried to answer as well as they could, and explained what had happened. "But you're wounded. We need a healer over here!". As there was much chaos, there went some time before someone came to heal his wound.

Then they met Tatsuhana, who was more muscular build, but still lower than Nikko. He had spiky dark brown hair, a more tan skin color than Nikko had, and he had dark green eyes. "Where've you been Nikko-kun?". Nikko tried again to explain. "At the middle of the night, we were attacked by ninjas from the Konoha-clan. They killed all the guards, but not before they could make the signal. But we still had to withdraw from the camp and back here." At first, Nikko found it hard to believe that their defenses had been destroyed so easily, but he soon understood that it was because of the Konohanins superior strategy.

"So then we're not missing anyone longer?", Iukimura asked one of his officers, Kageha Kiyoshi. Iukimura, who was in his late 30s, was tall and skinny, and he had long, straight black hair, had planned to reorganize his shinobis, and strike back at the enemies.

"No, now we're ready", Kiyoshi answered.

"Right, then let's begin! Inform the confusion and combat teams".

"Hai!"

Two of the confusion teams begun to prepare some jutsu, while Iukimura was beginning to do handselas as well. A few minutes later, the two confusion teams used Kumogakure no jutsu, covering the area in a thick mist. The purpose was to confuse the ninjas from the Konoha clan by making them unable to see through the mist. Following the jutsu, Iukimura used Raiton – Judan kaminari outsu no jutsu, summoning several bolts of lightning from the clouds, which he directed down to the Konohanins' positions, creating more chaos and damage. "Send in the combat teams", Iukimura ordered. 5 teams of shinobis ran out of their position, and towards the camp, which was occupied by Konohanins, using different long ranged jutsus to drive them away. Because of the confusion which the previous jutsus had made, the combat teams were successful in driving away the Konohaninjas. Though they had lost many shinobis, and most of the camp was destroyed.

When they had made sure that the camp was secured from enemies, Iukimura and his officers met to plan their next move. It was agreement that they now had to move against the Konoha clan, both because of their original objective, and for revenge for the attack. But they could not all agree about when the operation should start, and they faced new problems, since half of the shinobi they had originally selected to use against the Konoha clan, were dead. "Too bad that I'm unable to decide what to do next myself. If it were up to me, I would say that we would at least need some weeks to build up again after the attack", Iukimura said to his council.

"I know. So that means you have to go to visit Kaminari no Kishi-dono?", Inabikari Kaminari, one of the most well-known ninjutsu specialist in the country, said. Kaminari had shoulder-long brown hair, and was wearing a grey and blue kimono. Kishi had left the camp the previous day.

"I will have to do that", Iukimura answered. Then the meeting was over.

Later that day, Iukimura and a team of elite shinobis left for the capital, which were some kilometers north of the camp, higher up in the mountains.

When Nikko went back to the house where his sleeping quarters were, he found that the house were mostly destroyed by a lightning strike, made by Iukimura, and he found a dead ninja from the Konoha clan laying in the corridor (which kind of gave him a bad feeling). Nikko then thought that perhaps it was better to move out for a few days.

About ten days later, Iukimura and his team returned to the camp. You could see from a long distance that the meeting with Kishi and his council had not gone out well. The order he was been given, was to immediately move against The Land of Fire. Kishi though that the Konoha clan and its allies had lost more than the clans of The Land of Lightning in the battle. Iukimura strongly disagreed at this, but he still had to obey his lord.

Three days later, the shinobis had begun to rebuild the camp and strengthening the defenses. During those days, Iukimura and his officers planned another operation. They were all hoping that this one would be the last.

The following night (Nikko had been moved to one of the houses which had survived in a better matter), Nikko was waked up by someone shaking him. From the light the person was holding, he saw that it was a masked shinobi, wearing only black clothes. "Come with me", she said.

Nikko went out of bed, but asked "What's this about?", he asked.

"You have been selected to participate in the operation against The Land of Fire", she answered…

Notes:

Jutsus:

Raikoosen -Ray of lightning

Kumogakure - Hiding-in-clouds, similar to Kirigakure no jutsu

Judan kaminari outsu - Ten lightning strikes

Characters:

Nikko and Tatsuhana is 15

Yanagi is 14

Akiyama is 16


	4. Chapter 4 The Mission to Hi no Kuni

Chapter 3 – The Mission to The Land of Fire

The following day, Nikko and his team, which consisted of himself, Yanagi, Kumo Akiyama, Inabikari Kaminari and Kageha Yoruei, begun to prepare themselves for the mission. Kumo Akiyama was a well-known user of genjutsu and maker of strategies. He had short blonde hair and blue eyes, and was kind of tall and skinny. Akiyama used a dark yellow kimono. Kageha Yoruei was a 17 years old shinobi from the Kageha clan, who specialized in using longswords, katanas. He had a black kimono with the symbol for his clan (a sharp three-pointed tomoe) on the back. Yoruei had shoulder-long black hair in a ponytail at the back on his head, and he had brown eyes. In other words the team was made up by two close ranged fighters, two long range fighters and a confusion specialist.

Kaminari was selected the leader of the team by Iukimura, though he would often ask Akiyama for help if he were to plan an attack or such. Though he was good at making his team work together, good at finding the way, and an excellent ninjutsu fighter. The team was only a small part of the operation against The Land of Fire, and their objective was mainly to reconnaissance before the main force would move in. They should check out a specific area near the western border to the Land of Fire, while other teams would check out the rest of the border. Then they were objected to destroy an outpost near the border, to make it easier for the main force to move forward. Then they should move longer into the country, still in front of the main force, and check out the area, until they came to the village of the Konoha clan, and then help the main force in the attack on the village.

After a few hours of preparation, the team was ready to head out. Kaminari told them that they would not need to hurry, since he knew that it would take several days before the main force would be ready, and that he had a relatively short way to the border, but he still followed his orders about being by the border in time. At first, the team traveled in the mountains, going down, towards the northern coast of the peninsula, until they reached the sea. The team members did not really know each other well, except for Nikko and Yanagi, who had been trained together due to being about the same age, so they were not having a great teamwork at this point.

After 4 days, they had walked between the mountain range of Anyama and the northern coast without having any problems, and got to the marshes covering the southern part of The Land of Lightning. At the end of the mountains, the team got to the city of Higetsu Gai, a middle-sized poor city in the (current) southern part of The Land of Lightning. Kaminari decided that they should take a break there. After changing into civilian clothes, they stocked up their supply of food, and then they got themselves something to eat at one of the city's cheap street restaurants. "So how do you think the mission is going?", Kaminari asked his team.

"Hm…why do you ask? We have to do it anyway", Yoruei answered him.

"When you think about it, our mission is pretty easy and safe, compared to the others' missions, so I think we're kind of lucky", Akiyama answered.

"Well, I think this will mission will work out very nice, since we have this great team, and an ok mission", Yanagi said.

"What about you, Nikko-kun", Kaminari asked.

"It's ok, I agree with Yanagi-san", Nikko said.

"Well, then it's no problem, we'll surly work out of this nicely", Kaminari continued.

"Yes... But is anything wrong, Nikko-kun?", Yanagi said.

"Huh", Kaminari said.

"No, no, I'm doing great. I'm just a little exhausted. I think this mission will work out great", Nikko said.

About an hour later, they headed out of the city and begun to travel again. After two days, the team had gone through the marshes, and came to the beginning of the forests, showing that they were getting closer to The Land of Fire. Now they had to be more careful, since they were getting close to the border, and it would not be unlikely that they would meet Konohanins. Since they still had some time until the planned day of attack, Kaminari ordered them to slow down.

After they had traveled half a day in the forest, Kaminari decided that they should camp there. One of the reasons that they had better time than the other teams, were that some of the other teams had to cross the mountain range and travel longer. Iukimura had decided that all the attacks on the border should happen at once, so that none of the defenses would get time to prepare themselves. They made camp on a small hill in the forest, to make it easier to guard. The team had now become more known to each other. "So, how do you think we're doing now?", Kaminari asked the others.

"I would say that we're doing much better", Akiyama said.

"Yeah, I would totally agree to that", Yanagi said.

"We'll do…", Yoruei said.

"That's very good, because after tomorrow we'll have to start the attack", Kaminari said.

"What, that early?", Akiyama asked him"

"That's right, don't you remember the plan?", Kaminari asked.

"Got it, we'll surly make it", Nikko said.

"Yeah, that's right. Nikko would you take the first guard?", Kaminari asked.

"Sure", Nikko answered.

Early next morning, the team began moving again. Now they walked through the forests, until they got to border. Here Kaminari made contact with the other teams and the main camp using wireless radio. Then they made a camp and begun to prepare for the attack the next morning.

Kaminari sent Akiyama and Yoruei out to find the outpost and investigate. After some time, they found the outpost, which seemed easy to defend. After Akiyama had used Yure otankensuru no jutsu, which created vibrations from chakra, and sent information about the layout back, so that Akiyama was able to understand the layout of the outpost more than he could see from his position. Together with Yoruei he tried to analyze the information, to see if the outpost had any weaknesses.

After a few hours, they began to make the strategy for the attack ready. It was mainly Kaminari and Akiyama who participated in the planning. After orders from the camp, the attack was to start at 6.00 the next morning. After a long discussion between Kaminari and Akiyama, they all agreed about how to attack.

5.00 the following morning, Nikko, who was the guard at that point, woke up the other team members, as they had planned the previous day. Then they left their unnecessary equipment, and slowly mover forward, towards the outpost. In a few minutes, they had all got into their positions, keeping wireless contact. The previous day, Akiyama and Yoruei had reported that there were only about 15 ninjas in the outpost, which meant it should be very easy for them to capture. Now they had to wait for some time, until the clock became 6. It was still kind of cold there, but that did not bother Nikko. He was too exited, since his task was complicated, and he was not sure if he was able to remember it all. Nikko was also kind of scared, since he knew the enemies would outnumber them.

Then, the clock became 6.00. Kaminari gave his team the signal, using wireless contact. Now they would begin the attack. "Kumogakure no jutsu", Akiyama screamed, laying the outpost and the surrounding area in a thick mist.

"Raiton – raitama no jutsu", Kaminari screamed, gathering up lightning chakra in his hands, manipulating it into a bullet and shooting it towards the enemy. He did all this very quickly. The ball smashed into the biggest building at the outpost, making it burning.

As planned, Nikko, Yanagi and Yoruei used the situation to storm towards the outpost from their positions, beginning the attack…

Notes:

At this point, the country south of the Kaminari no Kuni and a little part of the country north-east of the Hi no Kuni is claimed by Kaminari, and most of the country north-east of Hi, is claimed by Hi, going by world map.

Yure otankensuru – exploring using vibrations

Kumogakure – hiding-in-clouds

Raitama – Lightning ball


	5. Chapter 5 The Fall of Inabikari?

Chapter 4 – The Fall of the Inabikari…?

Nikko jumped towards the left corner of the outpost, as they had planned the previous day. As it was still early in the morning, and since Akiyama had covered the area in a mist, it was difficult to see anything. Nikko was not very scared, his head was filled up with so many other thought, and he knew he wanted to finish this mission quickly. He landed on the roof of a small building, probably a storage, and then jumped down on the floor. From the other directions, he could hear that fighting had already started. Nikko thought he could see some figured through the mist, and quickly readied a kunai. "Nikko-kun, are you okay?", he could hear Kaminari ask over the radio.

"Yes, I'm making contact with the enemy", he answered trying to keep his voice down. Though it looked like the enemy noticed him. As one the figures moved, he threw it towards it, though he could of course not know if it was an enemy or an ally. Luckily, he could hear that the kunai hit its target. "Yukio-san, get to the main building, we must not let them past that point", Nikko could hear one of them say, as the person he had hit got out of his view.

"I'll deal with this one", he could hear one of them say. "Ok, Arata-kun, but be careful", the one addressed as Yukio said, as he was jumping away. Then Arata was quickly attacking him, running towards him and throwing shurikens. Nikko evaded them, and jumped some meters back, getting ready to use some ninjutsu. As the mist was now beginning to disappear, Nikko could now get a better view of his opponent. He was tall and muscular, and looked very young, barely any older than Nikko, but he did not have any other weapons except for his kunais and shurikens. He had light brown short hair, and was wearing a long green kimono.

At the same point as Nikko was attacking, Yanagi jumped straight into the outpost, and begun to run towards her enemies. Her goal was to get to the central building in the camp. She was holding her kusarigama, her chained sickle, in her hands, ready for use. As she was arriving a few seconds after Nikko and Yoruei, the camp was already in chaos. When she was getting close to her target, she could see that there were already several dead shinobis there, and they looked like enemies. Suddenly, she noticed several kunais being threw at her from behind, and she barely got enough time to evade them with her weapon. She turned around to see a ninja jumping towards her, holding a kunai. He had spiky red hair, and was kind of short, but still muscular. He was wearing dark blue and green clothes. Yanagi lowered her body and evaded his attack, then she jumped back and readied her weapon for an attack. "I see, so perhaps I'm still a bit lucky. You see, I wanted to fight the sword user over there, but perhaps even you can give me a worthy fight. I'm Hiyari Yukio, at your service". He began to make handseals at a great speed. "Katon – gokakyuu no jutsu".

When the attack started, Yoruei was quickly jumping towards his target, the right part of the outpost. When he landed, he attracted the guards' attention, and several of them noticed him and attacked. Since Yoruei was a very skilled sword-user, he had little problems with killing of the attacking enemies. After he had killed of the first five, he noticed that more shinobis came after him from behind. Yoruei readied a couple of shurikens and turned around, since the mist was beginning to disappear, he could now see the situation clearly. Three shinobis were running towards him. Yoruei threw his shurikens towards them, wounding two of them. The last shinobi drew a sword from his waist. He was tall and skinny, and was clothed in a light armor. He had long black hair. "So, you're the one I got to fight?", Yoruei asked.

"It certainly looks that way", the ninja answered him.

"Good, I am Kageha Yoruei of the Kageha clan of The Land of Lightning", Yoruei said. "And I will kill you where you stand".

"...Really, I'm Mori Kenichi, and I believe you're the one to die here today".

After he had used the jutsu, and shortly after Yoruei, Yanagi and Nikko had moved in, Akiyama joined their attack. He quickly jumped into the camp, but when he landed, he could see nothing more than the mist. Akiyama was waiting a moment, being on guard before he slowly moved forward. Suddenly, he could see snow coming from the sky. It was not much of it, but he thought it was to hot…and too early to snow. And he could neither see the snow land, since he couldn't see the ground. As Akiyama was going forward, it slowly began to snow more, and it continued, until he barely could see anything but snow. But he could not feel any cold or hear any sounds. "A genjutsu", Akiyama thought. "But how did I get caught by it?".

Then, the mist opened up, in a single spot, right in front of his head. There he could see…Nikko lying on the ground, but only for a second. The mist covered him again, along with the snow. He could now feel that it was getting heavier to walk. He was getting tired, though he hadn't walked long.

At the same point as Akiyama moved in, Kaminari attacked from another point. He quickly run into the camp, but as he got there, he could not notice that the enemies surrounded him. Kaminari stayed calm. He also tried to contact his team to keep their moral up. Suddenly, about five ninjas attacked, from all directions. Kaminari still stayed calm, and jumped straight up in the air, and evaded the jutsus and weapons that the enemy threw at him. When he got about five meters up, he shot a Raitama down against the enemies, made it dissolve a few meters above the ground. He used the confusion to quickly throw five kunais down at the enemies, leaving them dead. Kaminari now ran to the right, to try to find his team members, but were stopped by more enemies.

"Raiton – Raikoosen no jutsu", Nikko screamed.

"Fuuton – Konoha arashi no jutsu", Arata screamed. Nikko shot a ray of lightning from his hand, but it was nicely evaded by Arata, while he used his jutsu, making a whirlwind towards Nikko, sending leafs towards him. Nikko did not manage to fully evade the attack, and got hit by several leafs, sending him backwards, and made several small wounds. "Damn", he thought. "If he evades my attack that easily, I will have problems defeating him. I must try to attack him with taijutsu". Nikko then got up as fast as he could, and readied a couple of kunais and jumped towards Arata. Arata did not get much time to prepare himself, and Nikko nearly forced him down as they clashed. "You really think _you_ can defeat me?", he said in a ugly way". "Well why not", Nikko said, as he was blocking one of Arata's attacks. "Perhaps because you are an ugly, idiotic wannabe ninja. You really think anyone cares if you die?".

At about the same time, the battle Yanagi and Yukio began. Yanagi had evaded his fireball attack, and was now thinking desperately about a way to defeat him, and was currently hiding from him. She had concluded that she first had to test his defense. Yanagi readied her kusarigama for her attack, jumped out of her hiding place, and started her attack by throwing her weapon towards him "Buyau no kage – Ichi no mai". Yanagi sent her kusarigama straight towards his head. He evaded it but lowering his head. She pulled back her weapon, making it ready for another attack, this time against his body. He evaded that as well. "This is not going to be too easy", she thought. Now Yukio made ready for another attack. "Katon – Housenka no jutsu". Yukio shot several small fireballs towards her, and followed it up with more kunais and shurikens. At first Yanagi had little problems with evading and blocking his small fireballs and weapons, but as his attacks continued, she became tired, and got hit by several kunais and shurikens, though not in any vital spots.

"Damn, he's overpowering me…and I have to find an opening", Yanagi thought. Now Yukio attacked her with taijutsu, even though she had a superior weapon, she could not hold him back, and did now only get time to defend herself, though she still was looking for an opening.

There, she saw it! At his lower right body, that's where to attack, since he wouldn't be able to guard that point if her strategy worked out. Now she was waiting for an opening to get away from him. After a few more seconds, she got the chance. Yanagi jumped as far away as she could, about four meters. Yukio answered by sending another katon towards her, but Yanagi had calculated that he would. She threw herself to the side, evading his attack. While she still was in the air, she threw her weapon towards his right side. "Buyau no kage – Ni no mai". She had already calculated the length of the chains she would throw, so that she wouldn't miss. He blocked the attack using his right arm and a kunai. Then Yanagi threw the remaining chain against his left side. Yukio blocked the chain using his left hand, but as she had hoped, the chain curled around his hand. Yanagi saw her chance. She drew the chain backwards, but then dropped it at the ground. Then she hurried and threw a kunai against his lower right body. Yukio was fast, and did nearly manage to move his right hand to block it, but he was some seconds to late. He fell to the ground, killed by the kunai. "Now I have to find the others", Yanagi thought, as no one was answering on the wireless.

Nikko was silent. "So, you're finally understanding, eh?", Arata asked. Nikko knew that he had to ignore his enemy, but Arata had still made him depressed. Though he knew Arata wouldn't know anything about him, he was thinking about his life. Ever since he was a child, he had been alone…everywhere. Though in the last year, he thought he had been able to change himself, but he realized, that it could very well be true…what Arata said. "So, why not just die yet?", Arata continued. Both of them stood silently, with about ten meters between them. Nikko was silent, he saw into the ground, clearly lowering his guard, thinking. "Now, let's just finish this!", Arata said. "Fuuton – Okiru kaze no jutsu".

Elsewhere, Yoruei was surrounded by about 30 ninjas. "So this is Kage bunshin?", he asked his opponent. "So, you figured out, I'm impressed", Kenichi said. Though Yoruei had heard about this jutsu, and he thought it wouldn't be smart to use it, as it divides one's chakra between the bunshins. Especially for someone with a low chakra level, like himself. When Kenichi made the bunshins, Yoruei had kept his eye on the real Kenichi all the time, thinking the just had to wound him. Suddenly, five of the clones attacked. Yoruei used a circular slash against them, but it did not prove successful, since it would seems like Kenichi had powered them up with chakra, so that they were not easily defeated. Still, Yoruei's sword jutsu were clearly better, so he defeated the five bunshins, but not without getting damaged himself.

"Damn, he has too much chakra…I must try to sneak behind him", Yoruei thought, still keeping himself cold. When he defeated the bunshins, he had nearly lost his eye on the real Kenichi, and now he wasn't entirely sure if he was watching the right one. Kenichi sent more clones towards him, Yoruei was still able to beat them, but he knew what Kenichi wanted. "So he want to drag out the battle?", Yoruei thought. Though an idea formed in his head.

"Yorugakure no jutsu", he said, in a low voice. The jutsu made him produce shadow chakra and release it from his body, which would block out the light and making him more difficult to spot, especially when he would move in shadows. But the jutsu was far from complete, and it would only be successful if he also used good movements and was careful. Luckily, Yoruei was very skilled in shinobi-iri, the art of sneaking around. First he moved away from the battle, until he came to one of the buildings' walls, where he could stand in shadow. Then he observed Keichi's reaction. Kenichi first made ten clones make a formation around him, making it obvious where he was, but making any attacks against him difficult. He also sent his remaining clones in different direction, probably hoping that Yoruei would attack one of them and show his position. But Yoruei knew that that wouldn't be very smart. Using high-leveled shinobi-iri, he slowly moved into the bunshins formation. Now he knew that there wouldn't be any way for Kenichi to stop him. "Kageharyuu – Yorukizu rendan"¤. Yoruei quickly drew his sword, broke his jutsu and started attacking. His speed was much higher that Kenichi's, and Kenichi barely managed to react before Yoruei had destroyed his guardian bunshins and killed him. "Now, I'll have to find Kaminari", Yoruei though.

Nikko still stood there, thinking. "He's right isn't he?", he though, as Arata was preparing his jutsu. "But…isn't there anything I should stand up for?", he thought, searching his mind, waiting for Arata's attack. "Wait…what about…!", Arata's wind jutsu was already launched, quickly getting closer to him. But Nikko had decided.

He hurried and jumped backwards, giving him a few more seconds, while he was doing handseals. "Raiton – Raiheki no jutsu"¤¤. The wind was already passing him, cutting up his arms and legs. But he had managed to guard his body and head, in the last second, he had focused lightning chakra to his arms, then he focused the chakra between his arms, creating a small shield which would stop the wind attack. This was not a jutsu that Nikko mastered, since he was supposed to make a large wall of lightning in front of him, but it had surly helped him, and not damaged his arms.

Now Nikko hurried. He jumped straight towards Arata, finding a kunai in the jump. Arata blocked, and cut up Nikko's left arm. But Nikko knew exactly what to do, he made handseals and but his hands to Arata's chest. "Raiton – Raikoosen no jutsu". The jutsu was clearly effective, as it cut a hole straight through Arata, and sending electricity through his body, making him falling down, dead. "I _do_ have something to stand up for", he said, knowing no one would hear him. Nikko was not delighted to see this, and he hurried away, wanting to find the others.

Akiyama continued to walk, though he could not know why. Now he couldn't see anything but a white mist and a lot of snow coming from the heaven. It was though to walk. "Damn, I can't remember what I saw before I jumped in here", he thought. "It must be affecting the eyes". Now he tried to focus and stop his chakra stream, to no use. As he continued walking and getting tired, he could see flashes of the others, lying there dead, and of his village in fire. Though he still managed to keep himself calm, and not believe them. Akiyama desperately tried to think about the situation. Since he didn't know the area, or how the genjutsu worked, he didn't know what to do. "Only one way out…", he thought, trying to grab a kunai from his belt. But he couldn't find any. He also tried to hit himself, but he couldn't feel any pain from it. "Damn, this must be a high-leveled genjutsu", he thought. "Possibly bloodline related…".

For what seemed like hours, Akiyama tried to figure out a solution, without getting any closer to it. Akiyama was getting more and more tired, but did not collapse, and continued to walk. He tried to figure out his position from his research the previous day. But he couldn't know if he was really moving or not. He decided to believe that he was not really moving. Then he tried to figure out where the caster would, out from where he would be able to trap him. But he couldn't know if the jutsu really were affecting his eyes, or if it was trigged from some other sense.

After thinking intensely for a few minutes, he figured out a plan, but he could only hope that it would really work. He grabbed some kunais, or at least he was hoping he did so, since he could not really feel them. "I'll have only one chance", he thought. "I just hope that my calculations are successful…". "Genjutsu – Tobiryu kunai"¤¤¤, he screamed, though he barely could hear it. Now he had to wait some seconds. At first, the world became disturbed, the snow fled to all directions, and Akiyama could see several flashes, few of them making any sense. Then the surrounding began to disappear from different directions. Akiyama understood that he had been extremely lucky, in the way that he had guessed right about the jutsu, and that his calculations were right. Now he could see the camp again. He saw that most of his mist was gone, and he could see his teammates at different points in the camp, all being busy. On one the roofs in from of him, he could see a little girl, he could not believe that she would be older that twelve or thirteen years old, pierced by his kunais, which should have taken the form of small dragons if his genjutsu was successful. She had long light grey hair, and was wearing a long and very decorated blue and white kimono. And her eyes…they were grey like grey crystals.

"Oh, there you are Akiyama-kun!", could hear Kaminari say. "Good, now we have secured the camp", Kaminari continued. "Oh, good", he answered. "Come over here everyone", Kaminari said , "And we'll be ready to move out".

"Look!", Yanagi suddenly said.

"What is it?", Yoruei asked.

"Look up at that hill". She was pointing at a small hill, a few hundred meters away. "That is…! That is _Konoha Takeo_!", she screamed.

And up at the hill, they could see a character, similar to their description of the infamous Konoha Takeo. And he was not alone…several other ninja teams from the Konoha clan were with him…

Notes:

Raitama – Lightning ball

Raikoosen – Ray of lightning

Konoha arashi – leaf storm, Okiru kaze – cutting wind

Buyau no kage – shadow dance, Ichi no mai – first dance, Ni no mai – second dance

Yorugakure – Hiding-in-night

¤Kageharyuu – Style of The shadow blade, Yorukizu rendan – fight of the nigh wound

¤¤Raiheki – Lightning wall

¤¤¤Tobiryu kunai – Flying dragon knifes


	6. Chapter 6 The Respectable Shinobis

Chapter 5 – The Respectable Shinobis of the Clouds

"Nikko-kun, Yanagi-chan, contact the other ninja teams over the radio and tell them the current situation!", Kaminari screamed.

"Hai", Nikko and Yanagi said.

"I will fight him", Kaminari said. "Yoruei-san, Akiyama-kun, I need you to hold of the other ninjas", Kaminari continued.

"Hai", they answered.

"Good!", Kaminari said.

They could see that the ninjas on the hill were all some of the most skilled ninjas in the country. There were a total of 20 enemy ninjas there. Their leader, known as Konoha Takeo, had long dark brown hair, and was wearing a brown armor.

At first Nikko and Yanagi tried to make contact with their village using their own radios, but did quickly understand that that didn't work. "We'll have to check the houses here for some better transmitter", Nikko said.

"I know", Yanagi said. "I'll start checking here".

"Ok, then I'll start here". They spited up, Nikko got to the main building, and Yanagi got to one of the small guard towers. Then they faced new problems, since they couldn't really find anything at first.

At Kaminari's signal, Yoruei and Akiyama attacked the enemy ninjas from two sides, driving them to the sides, and clearing a path between Kaminari and Takeo. Kaminari used the chance. "Hoshioutsu no jutsu", he said, sending several small sparks of light towards Takeo. Takeo evaded them all without problems. "Perhaps there are not weird that you were able to beat the shinobi I had station here…So even Hoshiko of the _Yukigan_ failed after all?", he said after he had evaded Kaminari's attack. "But now, you will fail".

"I'm not so sure about that", Kaminari said. Now he was going to attack Takeo straight on, using taijutsu.

"Mokuton – Jukai koutan" , Takeo said. The following scene was really scary. Takeo manipulated all the surrounding trees, and made them, currently at a very low speed, grow towards Kaminari, so that he became attacked from all directions. Yoruei and Akiyama, who up to this point had hold of the other Konohanins. But now the other ninjas withdraw from the battle, to not get in Takeo's way. Yoruei and Akiyama understood that they could follow them, but they chose to withdraw, since they doubted that they could stand against Takeo's jutsu. "Shall we help you, Kaminari-san?", Akiyama asked.

"No, I can handle _this enemy_ myself" was the answer they got. But Akiyama did doubt that Kaminari would be any match for Takeo.

At the same time, Yanagi was looking for some powerful transmitter, so that she could contact their village. She was looking in one of the small guard towers facing against the border. In the first floor, she found nothing but a table, some chairs and a chest with some food. She hurried to the next floor, which looked way more promising. There Yanagi found some kind of computer, along with windows which gave a good view of the surrounding area. She quickly turned the computer on, and while it started, she explored the small room. Outside one of the windows, she saw something that looked like a transmitter (she was not really into such things), and she guessed it was connected to the computer, so now she had to wait a few minutes. When the computer was ready, she did not have much trouble finding the radio, though. But what was the frequency? "S, I must remember it", she thought, looking through her mind. She thought a second about asking Nikko, but she thought that would be a waste of time, since she just had to keep in her mind somewhere.

After thinking desperately for a few seconds, she remembered. Now she turned on the radio, and tried to get into the frequency. "Is anyone hearing me?", she asked, for several minutes.

Suddenly, someone answered. "I'm hearing. But who are you", it came from the radio.

"I'm Maikage Yanagi from The Land of Lightning", she answered.

"Okay. Do you know our password?", she was asked.

"Please, we have an emergency over here…"

"Okay, I guess I'll let it go for now", he said. "What it is it about".

"My team completed its mission, but the enemy must have called for backup, and they are here, leaded by _Konoha Takeo_!"

"…then the situation is truly bad", she heard. "I'll try to contact some of the other teams. In fact, the main force has hurried up, and should not be far away, so perhaps they can send a division to you. But I cannot promise you anything, I'll have to contact the council first. Can you stay at your position?"

"I guess so…", Yanagi answered.

Nikko was, as Yanagi, searching for a radio transmitter. He had got into the main house (as addressed by the Konohaninjas) of the outpost. When he got inside, he could see that it was really messy there. From the outside, he could hear that a battle had started, and was worried if Kaminari and the others really had any chance against Takeo. Nikko hurried and searched through the first room. As he searched, he could feel that his head got heavy, and he could feel that his wounds from the fight against Arata hurt. But he continued the search. One thing got into his mind, he seemed to remember was that one of the enemy ninjas had said that they should not let them into the building. Nikko wondered why. But his main though was to continue to search. After searching through the room to the left of the entrance, which looked like a sleeping room, he got back to the first room, since there was no door to the last room from the sleeping room. Since he had to hurry, Nikko stormed into the last room, crushing the locked door as he entered. As he got into the room, four kunais, shot after he had broken down the door flew towards him. "A trap!", he thought. But even though he was wounded, he was still able to evade them by lowering his body. But since he already was very dizzy, and had to quickly evade the kunais, Nikko fainted, falling down to the floor…

Now Takeo made his wooden attacks much faster. It was obvious that he wanted to defeat Kaminari first, and did not seem to care about Akiyama or Yoruei. Kaminari had problems with defending himself against the branches from the trees, but managed to not get captured. The bunshins that Takeo made out of the trees, which were now totally covering the area, was a much larger problem for him. Kaminari had to use powerful raiton jutsus to defeat them, and had now used almost all his chakra. And he couldn't get any closer to Takeo, since then he would just create wooden walls and try to bind him, and long ranged attacks would also be useless, since they would just be stopped by wooden shields.

"Damn, he's overpowering me!", Kaminari thought. "He must have an inhuman chakra level". Kaminari though hard after way to attack Takeo using his remaining chakra.

"…That could work", he finally though. Takeo didn't give him much room to think though, sending countless branches against him, trying to bind him. It was also pointless to get out of the wood, as Takeo could just extend it, or stop him by making more walls. Now Kaminari quickly evaded a few branches, storming towards Takeo at a very high speed.

"We'll have to help him out soon", Akiyama said to Yoruei.

"I don't like to interfere with someone's battle, but you're still right. If he loses Takeo will just attack us instead.", Yoruei answered.

"Yes. Let's wait for an opportunity", Akiyama said.

"Ok, but we have to hurry", Yoruei said. "And not show them that we are planning something."

Now Kaminari had great success in evading Takeo's branches, and was quickly getting closer. Takeo answered by sending hundred of leafs from the trees towards him, blocking Kaminari's sight. But of course, it blocked his own sight as well. And what Yoruei and Akiyama could see, which not the Konohaninjas could see, was that Kaminari still was storming against him, going through the leafs. It could look like Takeo had filled up the entire area between him and Kaminari with leafs, to make sure that Kaminari wouldn't reach him, and he did not only use leafs, but he also continued with his branch attacks. Still, it didn't look like Kaminari was hit, not even once.

"How is he doing that", Akiyama had to ask, as he and Yoruei was using the situation to move closer.

"…I guess it must be the Shiryoku no tsuki", Yoruei said.

"But wouldn't that just waste his chakra?", Akiyama asked.

"…I don't really know…But I think that jutsu is good in the way that it does not cost you much chakra. But it is still an advanced jutsu, I wouldn't have guessed that Kaminari could use it. And, does not he have to attack, no matter what?", Yoruei said.

"That's probably what he's thinking…But that jutsu must be amazing. Come, let's hurry up, so that no one will notice us."

"Sure". They continued towards Takeo, without anyone noticing them.

Now Kaminari had got entirely close to Takeo, who still thought he had stopped him by his leafs. Just as he broke through the last leafs, not more that three meters from Takeo, he begun to make handseals. Takeo's reaction was quick, though. He quickly moved backwards and began to make handseals. "Raiton – Raitama", Kaminari screamed, as he was jumping towards Takeo, now less than a meter from his head.

"Mokuton – Moku souheki no jutsu"¤, Takeo screamed.

Kaminari launched a large lightning ball towards Takeo, but Takeo mover behind, just as he was creating a wooden wall from the ground to guard him. There wasn't much left of that wall after the lightning ball hit it, but Takeo was still nearly uninjured, while Kaminari had used up all his chakra, falling to the ground.

"Now!", Yoruei screamed. From both the sides of the wall, Akiyama and Yoruei were attacking, using katanas. Though it was useless, Takeo himself didn't move a centimeter, but he transformed his arms into wooden branches, sending them to attack Akiyama and Yoruei. For a couple of minutes, Akiyama and Yoruei tried to cut down the branches or destroy them using katons and raitons, and they even tried to disturb Takeo by attacking him. The other Konohanins just stood there, having total faith in their leader.

The attacks resulted in having both Akiyama and Yoruei use all their remaining chakra and stamina. Takeo picked them up together with Kaminari using branches from the remains of his wooden wall. At this point it didn't look like Takeo wanted them dead on the second. For a few minutes, nothing happened. Though one of the enemy ninjas used some kind of jutsu to make them unable to build up their chakra. Takeo had now left them totally unable to move, and was talking with some of the other ninjas. It looked like Takeo rather planned to take them to his village for interegation.

"What do you have to report?", Takeo asked Yougen Danno, one of his spies that had recently returned from reconnaissance.

"It looks like there are more ninjas from The Land of Lightning coming here", Danno said.

"That's bad. Prepare for defense", Takeo said.

"Hai, Takeo-sama!", Danno answered. "But what about the prisoners?"

"Well just leave them whey are, they may serve as a useful defense for us", Takeo said…

"Are you still there?", Yanagi heard the radio operator in her village ask.

"Yeah", she answered.

"Then I can tell you that you've been extremely lucky today. Iukimura-sama has agreed to send a division from the main force to help you."

"Thanks a lot!", Yanagi said. "How long until they're here?"

"Shouldn't be long", the operator answered.

"Then I'll be going. Thanks again!", Yanagi said, as she was turning of the computer. "Now I'll have to find Nikko", she though, wondering where he could be.

Some minutes ago the battle had stopped, but Yanagi didn't notice it before now. That made her worried, since she knew that there wasn't any way that her teammates could beat that many ninjas…especially not when Konoha Takeo was among them. Now she thought about what she should do. Would there be any point in entering battle? She decided to try to find Nikko, and wait until backup arrived.

When the battle was going towards the end, Nikko was waking up again, though he had great problems moving. But his curiosity drove him up. He could see that the room didn't have any transmitter, and was, like the other room, very messy. But one thing caught his attention: On a small table by the wall, he saw a scroll with the characters for "Top secret"…

"Nikko, are you here?", Yanagi asked, keeping her voice down. She had to use quite some time getting there, because she had to keep quiet and stay out of sight so that no enemies would notice her. But, of course she had forgotten where Nikko should look, and she also thought that he would have finished looking, and probably joined the battle. Though their plan had been to find each other after they had made contact with the base. Yanagi hadn't thought about that when she talked to the radio operator in her village, and she though that Nikko could have forgotten as well (though she didn't like the thought), and thought that he might have joined the battle, since it obviously didn't went well for them at all.

After checking two small buildings, Yanagi found Nikko. "Yanagi-chan, you need to look at this!", Nikko said.

"Keep you voice down, Nikko-kun!", she said. "But what is that?."

As they talked, the reinforcements from The Land of Lightning were getting closer. They arrived by the outpost and begun to make an attack plan. The group, consisting of 8 teams or 32 ninjas, was lead by Kageha Kiyoshi, an elder shinobi of the Kageha clan.

Few minutes later, the forces engaged the Konohanins. As usual, they first covered the area in mist, to create confusion, and then attacked using long ranged raiton jutsus. Since they knew the situation, they managed to get Kaminari, Yoruei and Akiyama out of the battle without killing them, by first attacking the branches holding them by using katon and raiton jutsus, and then sending in a few teams fast to get them out.

Then they attacked the enemy shinobis, but they still had problems getting past Takeo's wood without getting trapped. Now the Konoha shinobis that had been standing on the hill watching the battle engaged. This resulted in an even battle between the ninjas from The Land of Lightning, which consisted of mostly battle trained elite shinobis, and had also a larger number, and the ninjas from The Land of Fire, who also was an elite team, which had been sent to save the outpost, and was lead by the best ninja in the country, Konoha Takeo.

"Have you seen Maikage Yanagi or Inabikari Nikko? They were members of my team", Kaminari asked Kumo Youmei, of the shinobis which was not currently taking part in the battle.

"No, I haven't seen them. Weren't they taking part in the battle", Youmei asked him.

"No, I sent to contact the village and ask for help", Kaminari said. "And they haven't returned".

"Too bad. Still I cannot talk to you, I have to help the others. You can just stay out of battle to you regain your chakra", Youmei said, as he was leaving.

After Nikko had let Yanagi read through the scroll, she said "Now we have to tell them, the ninjas at the outside".

"Yes, but there is still a chance that will be killed on the second…", Nikko said.

"Bu that's a chance we have to take now", Yanagi said. "This is too important!"

"Ok, then let's hurry!"

"Yeah" They hurried out of the building, out to the battleground.

Outside, the battle continued. The ninjas from The Land of Lightning had been successful in the first part of the battle, after their surprise attack. But now the ninjas from The Land of Fire was pushing them back, greatly assisted by Takeo's wood jutsus, which the ninjas from Lightning had problems defending themselves against. Kaminari and the remains of his team was still waiting behind the frontline, regaining their chakra. But now the shinobis from Lightning was quickly being pressed back by their enemies.

Yanagi and Nikko hurried out from the house, and ran towards the battleground, a few meters aside from the outpost.

As Nikko was getting closer, he could see that Tatsuhana was among the ninjas from The Land of Lightning that was taking part of the battle, successfully using his fast taijutsu style. "Look, Tatsuhana is there", he said to Yanagi".

"I see…But that just gives us another reason to hurry!".

Now they were getting into the Lightning ninjas' frontline, and were first now being noticed.

"Nikko-kun, Yanagi-chan? Where have you been? Nice work by the way…", Kaminari said to them.

"You need to stop this battle!", Nikko shouted with all his remaining voice, hoping that also the enemy would hear him, as he was getting to the frontline…

Notes:

Hoshioutsu – Star attack

Yukigan – Snow eye

Jukai koutan – Birth of dense woodland

Shiryoku no tsuki – Sight of the moon

Raitama – Lightning ball

¤Moku souheki – Wood barrier


	7. Chapter 7 The Heroes of Kumogakure

Chapter 6 – The Heroes of Kumogakure

"Is there any reason we should listen to you?", Yougen Danno, one of the battling shinobis from The Land of Fire asked Nikko, showing that he at least had heard what he said.

"You [Ihave[/I to listen to me!", Nikko said, showing the scroll by rising his left hand as high as he could. The battle raged on in front of him, and no one seemed to care about Nikko, except for Danno. Not even Tatsuhana seemed to notice him.

But then, Konoha Takeo said "Listen to him, let's stop the battle. At least for a moment. Let's at least hear what he has to say". This clearly angered Danno. The ninjas from Fire now withdraw from the battle. Kageha Kiyoshi, the leader of the force from The Land of Lightning, gave his solders the same order.

"Now, speak out!", Takeo said. Kiyoshi also looked curious, and Tatsuhana looked very confused after finally seeing Nikko.

"What I am trying to say, is that this war we are fighting, has no point! And it is not only anything that I am saying. I found and read this scroll, and what it says, is that you have the exactly same goal as us, in other words just ending the war…making peace", Nikko said.

"That is not my lord's goal. He has given me a clear order to defeat your country", Takeo said, while he still was holding back his ninjas. "And it isn't like we can end the war here or anything. Battles are raging on all over this country as we speak" The ninjas from The Land of Lightning was still standing there without talking, listening to Nikko and Takeo.

"But we can end this battle!", Nikko screamed.

"Why would we want to do that, baka!", Danno screamed. And he was right, as the ninjas from Lightning was about to lose the battle.

"Danno-san, be quiet! I want to listen to what this boy has to say", Takeo said. "Speak out".

"I would suggest that we should separate our forces here, and we will leave your country alone. Our lord, Kaminari no Kishi-dono, has also given us a straight order to defeat you, and it would not be honor in disobeying him. But I think that we should travel back to out leader, Kumo Iukimura-sama, and let him hear this."

"That sounds to me like a bad excuse to get away from here", Takeo said.

"But in this scroll, it is written that your ultimate goal is ending the war, and it is not signed by your lord, but by yourself", Nikko said.

"That is true, after all", Takeo said. "I would try to force you to surrender, but disobeying my lord would truly be honorless."

"But what is a lord without his shinobis...?", Nikko screamed, using all his remaining voice.

"I must agree with Inabikari-san", Kiyoshi finally said.

"Very well", Takeo said. "Then I'll let you send a shinobi to hear with your lord, if that is really what he means. I have problems with believing that. And we will stop this battle, but not leave this ground."

Inabikari Mieko agreed to go to see Iukimura, who was with the main force, some kilometers away. Now the forces stopped the fighting, but they still remained distant from each other. Even if the battle would go on, this would be lucky for the ninjas from Lightning, since they could use the time to regain their chakra. Nikko used the chance to rest, ignoring the other ninjas. Now they had to wait quite a while in excitement.

Some hours later, Mieko returned to the outpost. He quickly explained the situation to Kiyoshi. The ninjas quickly understood that it was a positive message. Iukimura had agreed with Nikko and Takeo to oppose his lord, and get to an agreement with the Konoha clan. He had given Kiyoshi the right to make the first cooperation with the clan. The mood was still exciting among the ninjas, but now they cooled of, though it happened slowly. Still few talked to the opposite side. Now Takeo and Kiyoshi begun to talk about what they should do at the moment.

Though some ninjas, such as Yougen Danno, were not at all pleased with the result, but the majority was happy with it. Danno was a follower of traditions, and could not accept that his leader, Takeo, would oppose his daimyo. He tried to keep himself calm, but was simply not able to accept that his leader would oppose his lord.

Suddenly, Danno jumped up, without saying anything, he would show them that this was not what they should do. In one way, one could say that he wanted to start the battle again. Before anyone could react, Danno had grabbed a kunai, and threw it against the ninjas from Lightning. "What are you doing?", Takeo screamed to him, and before he had hit the ground, he had trapped him in wooden branches that he had made from Takeo's arm. His kunai was aimed well, and in hit the unprepared Tatsuhana in his upper chest. Takeo was now upset, he didn't want this to start another battle and destroy his hopes. "We will take care of him", he said. "He shall not get easy away from this.". The aged Kiyoshi understood, and agreed with Takeo.

Nikko and Yanagi hurried to Tatsuhana, and Kiyoshi requested a medical ninja. "Tatsuhana…", Yanagi screamed. She was distant related to him, and he had become Nikko's best friend over the last years. Nikko was sad, but he couldn't get forth any words. He knew that Tatsuhana was dead long before the medical ninja, who was from The Land of Fire, arrived. Yanagi cried loud out and hugged Nikko, other ninjas, such as Akiyama, came to join them around Tatsuhana.

Kiyoshi did not let this stop his cooperation with Takeo, though he thought it was sad that it had to come to this…again. Kiyoshi and Takeo decided that they should each return to their villages, and decided on a time and place where Iukimura and Takeo could meet.

Then Kiyoshi's force moved back to The Land of Lightning's main force, and they begun moving back to their village. Takeo's force began moving back to their village, the place that would later be known as Konohagakure. Nikko and Yanagi was still very sad over the loss of Tatsuhana, and could not feel much happiness after ending the war, which had lasted his entire life.

After traveling 15 days, they thought they would reach their village the next day. Nikko's team, Yanagi, Akiyama, Yourei, Kaminari and himself used this last evening to stay together. They talked around a campfire about several subjects, and now Nikko and Yanagai had begun to get over the loss of Tatsuhana, and could manage to not think about him every minute.

Now Kaminari asked about how the mission had went for them during the battle, and they heard each other's stories for a while. But when Nikko was telling them about his battle, Kaminari asked about the reason Nikko had to stand up. Nikko did not want to tell them, but he still felt that he had to answer his taichô.

"It was…Yanagi-san…and Tatsuhana-san…and Akiyama-san…and the others…the other people that respects me and care about me…my village", he finally said.

[hr

The meeting between Takeo and Iukimura resulted in a peace between the lands of Lightning and Fire, which would now be allied together against enemies. But that alliance would not last long, as war between the countries would break out again 65 years later.

But this first peace was still important to the shinobi world, as it marked the beginning of the end of the war. In the following years, the other wars going on between the shinobi clans would stop, as the countries became more organized and a new system was being buildt up. In that way, The First Great Shinobi War was ended.

Now The Land of Lightning would stand forth as a strong and organized country, and Kaminari no Kishi appointed Iukimura's force to be the official army of the country, and not just a hired army, as it had been before (though that didn't really change much).

Iukimura now changed his last name from Kumo to Kumogakure, which then became the name of his village. Now more shinobi clans would join his force and the village Kumogakure would grow. And as Suna no Shirokaze had done in the Kaze no Kuni, The Land of Wind, Iukimura now did, he named himself Kage or Shadow, or more precisely Raikage. Shodai Raikage, the founding Lightning Shadow, after his country. He became one of the great leaders of the thousands of shinobis in the world.

Several years later, Konoha Takeo would name himself Shodai Hokage and become the fifth of the five Kages, the last of the great leaders of the shinobis of the world. His village would be known as Konohagakure.

As for Inabikari Nikko, he became one of The Land of Lightning's most well-known and powerful shinobis all time, worthy the title of Raikage. His most known achievement, was the making of peace between the countries of Fire and Lightning in the year of 689, which marked the beginning of the end of The First Great Shinobi War, and the forming of the world as it is today.

**The E****nd**


End file.
